Romans and Mortals read the Last Olympian
by Bibliophilic12
Summary: Romans and Mortals alike are sent to Goode High's gym to read the PJO and HoO books, starting with Last Olympian. The gods, Fates, and two mysterious demigods, sent them from before the switch and right after MoA. Disclaimer: I don't own the bold words, and the only characters I own are the ones you don't recognize, and the ones from my own stories. Rick Riordan owns what I don't.
1. Chapter 1: Prolouge

**AN: This story is going to have Jason, Reyna, Octavian, Bobby, Gwen, Dakota, Hazel, and Nico go to an unknown location and have them read the Last Olympian.**

* * *

Jason's POV

I walked into my praetor house after a long day of training, working with Reyna, and dealing with the annoying blonde scarecrow also known as Octavian. I had also had a small meeting with the Ambassador of Pluto, Nico di Angelo. He was starting to come around a little more than he had when he first came to the camp. A few weeks ago, Nico had appeared with a girl that he claimed was a daughter of Pluto that he had found in New Orleans, and brought her to Camp Jupiter. Though, Nico seemed different, and I was determined to figure out what was different about him.

I thought about that as I got ready for dinner and I grabbed my sword, armor, shield, and spear (even though my sword could turn into a spear).

Just as I was about to grab everything off my bed and walk out, I saw a flash of white light, and passed out.

* * *

Reyna's POV

I walked into the stables to get my pegasus, Scipio, ready for the war games tonight, and started thinking as I walked into the stables.

I thought about the two people I hadn't thought about in years, the two that ruined my first home, Percy and Annabeth, and I thought about that di Angelo kid that kept showing up. He had only been here a few times, but he never stayed long. I thought about the pirates that those two released onto Circe's island, and about how I found a new home at Camp Jupiter. I thought of the fact that, had I not come to Camp Jupiter, and I had stayed on the island, I would never have met Jason, made all of the friends that I have, and I wouldn't have had the chance to become praetor.

Just then, I saw a flash of a beautiful white light, and passed out.

* * *

Octavian's POV

**(With him, I figure he'd be a legacy of two different gods, and his mom was a daughter of Apollo, while his dad was a son of Mars)**

I was plotting revenge on that upstart Jason Grace, for stealing my praetor position, when I saw a flash of bright white light and passed out.

* * *

Gwen, Bobby, and Dakota

The three of them were headed to the fifth cohort barracks (talking, laughing, and trying to keep Dakota calm because he didn't have any more Kool-Aid), to grab their gear for the war games, when they saw a flash of brilliant white light, and all passed out.

* * *

Nico and Hazel

Nico and Hazel were sitting on top of the Pluto shrine, trying to talk about Hazel's past without her having a flashback, when they were nearly blinded by the brightest and most brilliant light they had ever seen, and passed out.

* * *

3rd Person POV

At Goode High, students were sitting in the gym, talking with their friends, and waiting for the assembly to start, but they were mostly talking about their missing student, Percy Jackson. They had went on winter break, and he said he was going to his mysterious summer camp, and he never came back after Christmas. His friends had asked his step dad, Mr. Paul Blofis, about him, but Mr. Blofis always looked sad and continued with whatever he was doing before he was asked as if the question hadn't ever even been asked.

Percy's friends (Ella Goings, Emma and Jane Ferris, Samantha "Sam" Williamson, Jacob White, Emory Width, Christopher "Chris" Reed, Leah and Megan "Meg" Rio, and Abby Brett) sat together, Emory, Abby, and Sam seemed to know more about the disappearance than the others, but they kept quiet every time they started discussing the topic of Percy's disappearance. Abby and Emory were holding hands, they had been dating for the past three months. Sam and Jacob had also recently gotten together. They kept telling Chris that he should just ask Leah out, they all knew that they liked each other. Except them.

Just then, there was a brilliant and blinding white light that made everyone shield their eyes. When the light faded, eight people, a box, and a note were in the front of the gym. Suddenly, Abby, Sam, and Emory jumped up and ran to the front, yelling, "JASON! NICO! HAZEL!"

Seven of the eight people seemed surprised, particularly a blonde guy with sky blue eyes. There were three girls in the group, on with dark black hair and dark eyes, another with frizzy brown hair and gold eyes, and the third with blond hair and eyes that we couldn't tell the color of. The five guys varied in appearances, but two looked similar. The one that looked the most surprised, looked like the scrawny scarecrow-like boy, only the scarecrow had eyes that were a paler blue, not charged with lightning. The other three definitely looked different, one with dark, shaggy hair and dark, almost black, eyes and wore all black, another had curly black hair and eyes that seemed out of focus and red-stained lips, the final had brown hair.

The guy wearing all black ran up to the three people charging the group and had a rushed conversation that no one else could understand and that the students dimly recognised as Greek, but as the conversation went on, they seemed to grow troubled, then he turned around and said something to the group that had appeared in a different unknown language, then the group relaxed and they turned to the note.

Before they could get the read it, however, Paul Blofis came up. He had a quiet conversation with Percy's three friends and the boy in black, then they read the note, and Paul stood at the front and the room seemed to get even quieter, even though all of the students and the other teachers had been watching with rapt attention.

"Alright, it seems that we have some explanations to make, and then some introductions. Now, who knows about the Greek and Roman 'myths?'" He asked, and put finger-quotes around 'myths.' Everyone raised their hands, and he continued, "Good. Now, I have to tell you that they are all true. The monsters, gods, titans, the heroes, or demigods, and the current problem the world is facing, Gaea and the giants. Now, all eleven of these people up here, are demigods. This means that one of their parents is an Olympian god, and the other is a mortal, like the rest of us. My step-son, Percy Jackson, is a demigod son of Poseidon. I will let them introduce themselves, and then I will read this note to everyone, and explain what is going on. Full titles, please." With that, Paul walked back and gestured to the three students.

"Well, as you all know I'm Emory Width, and I'm a son of Apollo, Survivor of the Second Titan War, and defeater of the Hydra."

"I'm Sam Williamson, daughter of Aphrodite, I know, I know, I don't seem like one, but you should see my sister Piper. I also survived the Second Titan War."

"I'm Abby Brett, daughter of Aphrodite, Survivor of the Second Titan War."

Then the newcomers stepped forward.

The one dressed in black said, "I'm Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, Ghost King, wanderer of the Labyrinth, Survivor of the Second Titan War, and to these seven, I am the Ambassador of Pluto."

"I'm Reyna, daughter of Bellona, co-praetor of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, and Second Titan War survivor, former attendant of Circe, and survivor of the siege of Blackbeard, as my sister and I call it."

"I'm Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, defeater of the titan Krios, defeater of the Trojan sea monster, and co-praetor of Camp Jupiter and the Twelfth Legion."

"I'm Gwen, daughter of Venus, Survivor of the Second Titan War, and Centurion of the Fifth Cohort."

"I'm Bobby, son of Mercury, member of the Fifth Cohort of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, and Survivor of the Second Titan War."

"'M Dakota, son of Bacchus, Centurion of the Fifth Cohort, and Survivor of the war."

"I'm Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, member of the Fifth Cohort."

"I'm Octavian, Legacy of Apollo and Mars, Augur of Camp Jupiter, and Survivor of the Second Titan War."

Now Paul stepped forward, "Thank you all. Now, these eight are from last October, before Queen Hera was captured by the Giants, Olympus went silent, and Jason and Percy, the leaders of the camps for demigods were switched by Hera in an attempt to unite the Romans and Greeks. I will now let Reyna read you the note from the gods, and then we will get started."

Reyna stepped forward and grabbed the note, then she went to the front and read:

**Dear Demigods (From past and present) and Mortals,**

**We, the gods, Fates, and two special demigods, have come to an agreement that the Romans and mortals should learn the achievements of one of the greatest and most powerful (even Zeus admits it, we think it hurts him to admit it, though.) demigod of the past century at least.**

**We have sent the seven Romans and Nico from October, a week before Jason was taken to go to the Greek Camp. We have the mortals and the three demigod students from the present. When everything is finished being explained, we will send in five of the Seven and Nico from the present time. Nico, you may ask the demigod students where Percy and Annabeth are before the remaining Seven and Nico come, because I doubt they will want to answer the question. Octavian, you are forbidden from ridiculing and attacking the Seven and any and all Greeks. We may bring in others.**

**Now, we are giving you a book called the Last Olympian to show you about the war against the titans, and we have a series called the Heroes of Olympus to detail the Seven's quest. There will be five books in that series and it will come later. Good luck reading and be good. Outside of this room, time is standing still. The two demigod assistants will come after you finish the first book. We will bring in food when it is needed, and we will set up places for everyone to sleep.**

**With love,**

**The Gods, The Fates, and E&E**

"Okay. Well, where are Percy and Annabeth?" Nico asked.

The four that knew the truth were upset, It had just happened three days ago. "Well, Nico. Annabeth had to go on a mini-quest while they were in Greece, and where she was, there was a pit, leading to Tartarus, and they both fell down it."

"Oh."

"Well, now that we have that out of the way. I think we should get started reading." Paul said.

Then, there was another light and we saw a table with six people around it. They seemed to be in an argument.

Three of the people at the table were recognised as Jason, Nico, and Hazel, but the remaining three were unknown. Suddenly, the one with curly hair and the appearance of an elf (he made Past Hazel gasp), looked up and noticed where they were and alerted the others. They saw the duplicates of Nico, Jason, and Hazel, and seemed to be getting ready for a fight.

"Wait! We are from the past, and we were transported to Percy's school, along with you six, to read about Percy's life, and the quest you are currently on."

"Okay, well, I'm Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus."

"Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite. Hi, Sam, Emory, Abby."

"I'm Frank Zhang, son of Mars."

"You know the three of us, apparently. As our past selves are already here. So let's get reading. I'll read first," Jason said.

No one in the crowd had missed the way that Nico, seemed to be in worse shape than the other six, and that their happy faces were forced, or that Piper and Hazel had been crying. Jason grabbed the book and started to read.


	2. Chapter 2: I Go Cruising With Explosives

**AN: Here is chapter two, Sorry for the wait. I'll try to update sometime next week, I found a faster way to write this. I recently joined Wattpad. I will post my stories on there as well, and I have the same username: Bibliophilic12. If anyone wants it, I will put the link to my profile on Wattpad, on my FanFiction profile.**

* * *

3rd POV

**Chapter One - I Go Cruising With Explosives**

"Are all of the chapter titles going to be this crazy?"

"Knowing Percy, yes."

**The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the hood of my car.**

"Really! This is the reason I have hoofprints on my car!" Paul exclaimed.

"So that's how that happened. I wondered what happened. I just never asked," Nico said.

"I've wondered about how it happened for so long. Rachel could only tell me so much. Continue reading, please, Jason."

**Up until then, I was having a great afternoon. Technically I wasn't supposed to be driving because I wouldn't turn sixteen for another week, but my mom and my step dad, Paul, took my friend Rachel and me to this private stretch of beach on the South Shore, and Paul let us borrow his Prius for a short spin.**

"That is so irresponsible, Paul! What were you thinking?!" a teacher demanded.

"Well, I've seen him slice up demons jump out of exploding school buildings, it probably isn't the most dangerous thing he's ever done."

**Now, I know you're thinking, _Wow, that was really irresponsible of him, blah, blah, blah,_ but Paul knows me pretty well. He's seen me slice up demons and leap out of exploding school buildings, so he probably figured taking a car a few hundred yards wasn't exactly the most dangerous thing he'd ever done.**

"Ha! That's almost exactly what you said, Paul. That's absolutely not the most dangerous thing he's ever done, even by a long shot!"

**Anyway, Rachel and I were driving along. It was a hot August day. Rachel's red hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore a white blouse over her swimsuit. I'd never seen her in anything but ratty T-shirts and paint-splattered jeans before, and she looked like a million golden drachma.**

"Oooooh! I'm telling Annabeth!" both Nico's and Leo yelled at the same time. Piper rolled her eyes. Both Hazel's and Reyna looked at the Nico's as if they had grown another head. By now they knew to expect things like that from Leo, but Nico hardly ever talks and when he does, he seems like a different and depressed person. With a look from Piper, Jason continued reading.

**"Oh, pull up right there!" she told me.**

**We parked on a ridge overlooking the Atlantic. The sea is always one of my favorite places, but today it was especially nice - glittery green and smooth as glass, like my dad was keeping it calm just for us.**

"What?" a student in the back asked. That directed the demigods' attention to the mortals once again. They honestly hadn't noticed them because they were so quiet.

"Umm, I think he'll explain it in the book in the next few sentences, but if not we'll explain it. Also, why don't you guys come up here, Leah?" Abby said.

"Sure!" Emma, always the optimistic one, said.

So Ella, Emma, Jane, Jacob, Chris, Meg, and Leah came up to the front and sat on the couches with the demigods. The remaining Seven and Nico still sat at their table, and looked pretty comfortable.

**My dad, by the way, is Poseidon. He can do stuff like that.**

"See, Percy, being the Kelp Head he is, explained it."

"Okay. That explains it."

**"So." Rachel smiled at me. "About that invitation."**

**"Oh… right." I tried to sound excited. I mean, she'd asked me to her family's vacation house in St. Thomas for three days. I didn't get a lot of offers like that. My family's idea of a fancy vacation was a weekend in a rundown cabin on Long Island with some movie rentals and a couple of frozen pizzas, and here Rachel's folks were willing to let me tag along to the Caribbean.**

**Besides, I seriously needed a vacation. This summer had been the hardest of my life. The idea of taking a break, even for a few days was really tempting.**

"See, sometimes, I'm really glad that I came to camp after the war. I just wish we didn't have to have another one so soon after." Piper said, and Leo nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean, 'war?'" a teacher asked.

"Exactly that. You see, monsters come after demigods, and we have to fight them, but sometimes, like that particular summer, the titans, try to make a comeback and overthrow the gods. Then, in that case, we have to fight them, and it usually ends with war. Some demigods change sides, get killed, but we have beaten them every time. Percy is usually the target of most monsters, titans, giants, insane primordial goddesses that want to destroy the world, that kind of things.

"Unfortunately, for us and the monsters trying to make a comeback, Percy would never change sides, his fatal flaw is loyalty for a reason. He saves everyone, and he never takes credit for his accomplishments.

"I just feel bad for him and Annabeth sometimes." Sam said.

"Yeah, especially n-no-now they just saved the world, had a few months of peace, then things messed up, Percy was taken to the Roman camp, and Annabeth almost went crazy looking for him, but then they were reunited, Annabeth had to go on her quest to find the Athena Parthenos, and they both fell into Tartarus!" Hazel said, still sniffling.

"Let's just read some more, shall we?" Piper asked.

**Still, something big was supposed to go down any day now. I was "on call" for a mission. Even worse, next week was my birthday.**

"Why it is a problem that it's his birthday?" a mortal asked.

"You'll see."

**There was this prophecy that said when I turned sixteen, bad things would happen.**

"Oh."

"Yeah."

**"Percy," she said, "I know the timing is bad. But it's always bad for you, right?"**

**She had a point.**

**"I really want to go," I promised. "It's just—"**

**"The war."**

**I nodded. I didn't like talking about it, but Rachel knew. Unlike most mortals, she could see through the Mist—the magic veil that distorts human vision. She'd seen monsters. She'd met some of the other demigods who were fighting the Titans and their allies. She'd even been there last summer when the chopped-up Lord Kronos rose out of his coffin in a terrible new form, and she'd earned my permanent respect by nailing him in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush.**

"Mine too." both Nico's and Leo said.

"What? I was there. Read please, Jason," Nico defended when he saw the looks given to him. Jason complied.

**She put her hand on my arm. "Just think about it, okay? We don't leave for a couple of days. My dad…" Her voice faltered.**

**"Is he giving you a hard time?" I asked.**

**Rachel shook her head in disgust. "He's trying to be nice to me, which is almost worse. He wants me to go to Clarion Ladies Academy in the fall."**

**"The school where your mom went?"**

**"It's a stupid finishing school for society girls, all the way in New Hampshire. Can you see me in finishing school?"**

**I admitted the idea sounded pretty dumb.**

"To us, too." those that knew her said.

**Rachel was into urban art projects and feeding the homeless and going to protest rallies to "Save the Endangered Yellow-bellied Sapsucker" and stuff like that. I'd never even seen her wear a dress. It was hard to imagine her learning to be a socialite.**

**She sighed. "He thinks if he does a bunch of nice stuff for me, I'll feel guilty and give in."**

**"Which is why he agreed to let me come with you guys on vacation?"**

**"Yes… but Percy, you'd be doing me a huge favor. It would be so much better if you were with us. Besides, there's something I want to talk—" She stopped abruptly.**

**"Something you want to talk about?" I asked. "You mean . . . so serious we'd have to go to St. Thomas to talk about it?"**

"Really, Percy?" Piper asked. Jason just kept reading.

**She pursed her lips. "Look, just forget it for now. Let's pretend we're a couple of normal people. We're out for a drive, and we're watching the ocean, and it's nice to be together."**

**I could tell something was bothering her, but she put on a brave smile. The sunlight made her hair look like fire.**

**We'd spent a lot of time together this summer. I hadn't exactly planned it that way, but the more serious things got at camp, the more I found myself needing to call up Rachel and get away, just for some breathing room. I needed to remind myself that the mortal world was still out there, away from all the monsters using me as their personal punching bag.**

"I can understand that. I wish we could do something like that, but we have to defeat Gaea, not wait for an invasion." The mortals couldn't tell who said that, but it might have been Jason.

**"Okay," I said."Just a normal afternoon and two normal people."**

**She nodded. "And so . . . hypothetically, if these two people liked each other, what would it take to get the stupid guy to kiss the girl, huh?"**

"Ooooh, I wonder if Annabeth knew about that?" Sam asked.

**"Oh . . ." I felt like one of Apollo's sacred cows—slow, dumb, and bright red. "Um . . ."**

**I can't pretend I hadn't thought about Rachel. She was so much easier to be around than… well, than some other girls I knew.**

*Cough* Annabeth *Cough*

**I didn't have to work hard, or watch what I said, or rack my brain trying to figure out what she was thinking. Rachel didn't hide much. She let you know how she felt.**

**I'm not sure what I would have done next—but I was so distracted, I didn't notice the huge black form swooping down from the sky until four hooves landed on the hood of the Prius with a WUMP-WUMP-CRUNCH!**

**_Hey, boss_, a voice said in my head. _Nice car!_**

**Blackjack the pegasus was an old friend of mine, so I tried not to get too annoyed by the craters he'd just put in the hood; but I didn't think my stepdad would be real stoked.**

"I wasn't. That wasn't a fun occasion, and I couldn't tell anyone what happened because they would think I was insane," Paul muttered.

**"Blackjack," I sighed. "What are you—"**

**Then I saw who was riding on his back, and I knew my day was about to get a lot more complicated.**

**"'Sup, Percy."**

**Charles Beckendorf,**

"He was head counselor before Jake," Leo remembered.

**senior counselor for the Hephaestus cabin, would make most monsters cry for their mommies. He was huge, with ripped muscles from working on the forges every summer, two years older than me, and one of the camp's best armorsmiths. He made some seriously ingenious mechanical stuff. A month before, he'd rigged a Greek firebomb in the bathroom of a tour bus that was carrying a bunch of monsters across country. The explosion took out a whole legion of Kronos's evil meanies as soon as the first harpy went flush.**

"Man, I got to remember that, it would be so much easier than what happened with Shrimp-zilla," Leo said.

"Percy's reaction was so funny. He just walked out on deck to see what was going on, and named it. He immediately knew what was going on," Hazel said.

"I wish we still had some of those brownies, Leo, did you keep the recipe?" Jason asked.

"You know it man. I was gonna make some before we were brought here. Hey, do you think we could get some of those with the peach preserves?" Leo yelled the last part at the ceiling.

Suddenly there was a flash of light and a basket appeared with a note:

_**Dear Leo,**_

_**I'm only sending these to you because we took you out at lunchtime and didn't get to eat. I still think the preserves thing is gross.**_

_**Signed,**_

_**E**_

"Awesome!" the three guys that had tried it on the Argo II shouted. The two girls from the ship looked away from them like they had before. Jacob, Emory, Chris, Nico, Past Nico, Past Jason, Bobby, and Dakota joined them and they ate all of the brownies and peach preserves, while Piper grabbed the book to continue reading.

**Beckendorf was dressed for combat. He wore a bronze breastplate and war helm with black camo pants and a sword strapped to his side. His explosives bag was slung over his shoulder.**

**"Time?"I asked.**

**He nodded grimly.**

**A clump formed in my throat. I'd known this was 'd been planning for it for weeks, but I'd half hoped it would never happen.**

**Rachel looked up at Beckendorf. "Hi."**

"That seems awkward."

**"Oh, hey. I'm Beckendorf. You must be Rachel. Percy's told me . . . uh, I mean he mentioned you."**

**Rachel raised an eyebrow."Really? Good." She glanced at Blackjack, who was clopping his hooves against the hood of the Prius. "So I guess you guys have to go save the world now."**

**"Pretty much," Beckendorf agreed.**

**I looked at Rachel helplessly. "Would you tell my mom—"**

**"I'll tell her. I'm sure she's used to it. And I'll explain to Paul about the hood."**

**I nodded my thanks. I figured this might be the last time Paul loaned me his car.**

"It was," Paul said.

**"Good luck." Rachel kissed me before I could even react.**

"Ooooooooh, you'd better hope that Annabeth doesn't find out, of Rachel will be a dead Oracle."

**"Now, get going, half-blood. Go kill some monsters for me."**

**My last view of her was sitting in the shotgun seat of the Prius, her arms crossed, watching as Blackjack circled higher and higher, carrying Beckendorf and me into the sky. I wondered what Rachel wanted to talk to me about, and whether I'd live long enough to find out.**

**"So," Beckendorf said, "I'm guessing you don't want me to mention that little scene to Annabeth."**

**"Oh, gods," I muttered. "Don't even think about it."**

**Beckendorf chuckled, and together we soared out over the Atlantic.**

**It was almost dark by the time we spotted our target. The Princess Andromeda glowed on the horizon—a huge cruise ship lit up yellow and white. From a distance, you'd think it was just a party ship, not the headquarters for the Titan lord. Then as you got closer, you might notice the giant figurehead—a dark-haired maiden in a Greek chiton, wrapped in chains with a look of horror on her face, as if she could smell the stench of all the monsters she was being forced to carry.**

**Seeing the ship again twisted my gut into knots. I'd almost died twice on the Princess Andromeda.**

"Twice?" Paul squeaked.

"Yeah, so far. The rate for almost-deaths in Percy's case is so much higher now," Nico replied.

Paul paled even more at that. He seemed to have gotten a lot paler throughout this whole conversation.

**Now it was heading straight for New York.**

**"You know what to do?" Beckendorf yelled over the wind.**

**I nodded. We'd done dry runs at the dockyards in New Jersey, using abandoned ships as our targets. I knew how little time we would have. But I also knew this was our best chance to end Kronos's invasion before it ever started.**

"I wish that was the only strike force Kronos had. Percy defeated most of the army by himself, though," Nico sighed.

**"Blackjack," I said, "set us down on the lowest stern deck."**

**_Gotcha, boss_, he said. _Man, I hate seeing that boat._**

**Three years ago, Blackjack had been enslaved on the Princess Andromeda until he'd escaped with a little help from my friends and me. I figured he'd rather have his mane braided like My Little Pony than be back here again.**

"I can only imagine Blackjack like that. I met him once, and he helped me knock Percy and Jason out so that they wouldn't kill each other," Piper said pointedly to a sheepish Jason.

"It wasn't us! We were possessed!"

"You started arguing about who would've killed who when you woke up, and it took Annabeth to get you to stop."

"You can't just pin two demigods against each other, tell them to kill each other, stop them, and not have them wonder who would win."

"True," Piper conceded.

**"Don't wait for us," I told him.**

_**But, boss—**_

**"Trust me," I said. "We'll get out by ourselves."**

**Blackjack folded his wings and plummeted toward the boat like a black comet. The wind whistled in my ears. I saw monsters patrolling the upper decks of the ship—dracaenae snake-women, hellhounds, giants, and the humanoid seal-demons known as telkhines—but we zipped by so fast, none of them raised the alarm. We shot down the stern of the boat, and Blackjack spread his wings, lightly coming to a landing on the lowest deck. I climbed off, feeling queasy.**

**_Good luck, boss,_ Blackjack said. _Don't let 'em turn you into horse meat!_**

**With that, my old friend flew off into the night. I took my pen out of my pocket-**

"Is that the pen he always has in his pocket, but never uses?"

"Yep," Sam said, popping the 'p.'

**and uncapped it, and Riptide sprang to full size—three feet of deadly Celestial bronze glowing in the dusk.**

"Whoa!"

"Yup."

**Beckendorf pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. I thought it was a map or something. Then I realized it was a photograph. He stared at it in the dim light—the smiling face of Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite. They'd started going out last summer, after years of the rest of us saying, "Duh, you guys like each other!"**

"A little hypocritical, eh Percy?" Emory said.

"I know right, we kept saying that he and Annabeth should get together, but it took the war to get them together," Abby said.

"Like you and Emory, right Abby?"

"Shut up, Sam."

"Guys, I'm reading."

"Yes, Piper."

**Even with all the dangerous missions, Beckendorf had been happier this summer than I'd ever seen him.**

**"We'll make it back to camp," I promised.**

**For a second I saw worry in his eyes. Then he put on his old confident smile.**

**"You bet," he said. "Let's go blow Kronos back into a million pieces."**

"I wish things were that simple," Nico said.

"Yeah, at least our plan worked," Past Nico said.

**Beckendorf led the way. We followed a narrow corridor to the service stairwell, just like we'd practiced, but we froze when we heard noises above us.**

**"I don't care what your nose says!" snarled a half-human, half-dog voice—a telkhine. "The last time you smelled half-blood, it turned out to be a meatloaf sandwich!"**

"But, aren't there enemy half-bloods on the ship?"

"Yeah, monsters aren't the smartest."

**"Meat loaf sandwiches are good!" a second voice snarled. "But this is half-blood scent, I swear. They are on board!"**

**"Bah, your brain isn't on board!"**

**They continued to argue, and Beckendorf pointed downstairs. We descended as quietly as we could.**

**Two floors down, the voices of the telkhines started to fade.**

**Finally we came to a metal hatch. Beckendorf mouthed the words "engine room."**

"How did he know where they were?"

"Well, they had probably used abandoned ships that had a similar layout."

**It was locked, but Beckendorf pulled some chain cutters out of his bag and split the bolt like it was made of butter.**

"Awesome!" Leo shouted.

**Inside, a row of yellow turbines the size of grain silos churned and hummed. Pressure gauges and computer terminals lined the opposite wall. A telkhine was hunched over a console, but he was so involved with his work, he didn't notice us. He was about five feet tall, with slick black seal fur and stubby little feet. He had the head of a Doberman, but his clawed hands were almost human. He growled and muttered as he tapped on his keyboard. Maybe he was messaging his friends on uglyface . com.**

"Only you, Perce."

**I stepped forward, and he tensed, probably smelling something was wrong. He leaped sideways toward a big red alarm button, but I blocked his path. He hissed and lunged at me, but one slice of Riptide, and he exploded into dust.**

"Nice," Emma said.

**"One down," Beckendorf said."About five thousand to go." He tossed me a jar of thick green liquid—Greek fire, one of the most dangerous magical substances in the world. Then he threw me another essential tool of demigod heroes—duct tape.**

**"Slap that one on the console," he said. "I'll get the turbines."**

**We went to work. The room was hot and humid, and in no time we were drenched in sweat.**

"Eeew! That's gross!" a mortal 'popular' girl said. The demigods and Percy's mortal friends rolled their eyes.

**The boat kept chugging along. Being the son of Poseidon and all, I have perfect bearings at sea. Don't ask me how, but I could tell we were at 40.19°North , 71.90° West, making eighteen knots, which meant the ship would arrive in New York Harbor by dawn.**

"That's really cool!"

**This would be our only chance to stop it.**

**I had just attached a second jar of Greek fire to the control panels when I heard the pounding of feet on metal steps—so many creatures coming down the stairwell I could hear them over the engines. Not a good sign.**

**I locked eyes with Beckendorf."How much longer?"**

**"Too long."He tapped his watch, which was our remote control detonator. "I still have to wire the receiver and prime the charges. Ten more minutes at least."**

**Judging from the sound of the footsteps, we had about ten seconds.**

**"I'll distract them," I said. "Meet you at the rendezvous point."**

**"Percy—"**

**"Wish me luck."**

**He looked like he wanted to argue. The whole idea had been to get in and out without being spotted.**

**But we were going to have to improvise.**

**"Good luck," he said.**

**I charged out the door.**

**A half dozen telkhines were tromping down the stairs. I cut through them with Riptide faster than they could yelp. I kept climbing—past another telkhine, who was so startled he dropped his Lil' Demons lunch box. I left him alive—partly because his lunch box was cool-**

"Really?!"

**partly so he could raise the alarm and hopefully get his friends to follow me rather than head toward the engine room.**

"Better excuse."

**I burst through a door onto deck six and kept running. I'm sure the carpeted hall had once been very plush, but over the last three years of monster occupation the wall paper, carpet, and stateroom doors had been clawed up and slimed so it looked like the inside of a dragon's throat (and yes,unfortunately, I speak from experience).**

"How does he know that?"

"That is what I would like to know," Paul said.

**Back on my first visit to the Princess Andromeda, my old enemy Luke had kept some dazed tourists on board for show, shrouded in Mist so they didn't realize they were on a monster-infested ship. Now I didn't see any sign of tourists. I hated to think what had happened to them, but I kind of doubted they'd been allowed to go home with their bingo winnings.**

"Really, Perce," Nico said.

**I reached the promenade, a big shopping mall that took up the whole middle of the ship, and I stopped cold. In the middle of the courtyard stood a fountain. And in the fountain squatted a giant crab.**

**I'm not talking "giant" like $7.99 all-you-can-eat Alaskan king crab. I'm talking giant like bigger than the fountain. The monster rose ten feet out of the water. Its shell was mottled blue and green, its pincers longer than my body.**

"Eew! I didn't need to hear that description!" a mortal said.

**If you've ever seen a crab's mouth, all foamy and gross with whiskers and snapping bits, you can imagine this one didn't look any better blown up to billboard size. Its beady black eyes glared at me, and I could see intelligence in them—and hate. The fact that I was the son of the sea god was not going to win me any points with Mr. Crabby.**

"Really, Percy? Mr. Crabby?" asked Past Nico.

"He's the only one that, in a dangerous situation, can come up to something evil and disgusting, and name it," Hazel said.

"Well, Leo might be able to, but I don't think he's as talented at it as Percy is. He just walked out on deck, like, 'What's going- Gah, Shrimp-Zilla!" Piper agreed.

"Do I even want to know?" Paul asked.

"Nope!" Leo said, popping the 'p.'

**"FFFFffffff,"it hissed, sea foam dripping from its mouth. The smell coming off it was like a garbage can full of fish sticks that had been sitting in the sun all week.**

**Alarms blared. Soon I was going to have lots of company and I had to keep moving.**

**"Hey, crabby." I inched around the edge of the court-yard. "I'm just gonna scoot around you so—"**

"I don't think that's gonna work."

**The crab moved with amazing speed. It scuttled out of the fountain and came straight at me, pincers snapping. I dove into a gift shop, plowing through a rack of T-shirts. A crab pincer smashed the glass walls to pieces and raked across the room. I dashed back outside, breathing heavily, but Mr. Crabby turned and followed.**

**"There!" a voice said from a balcony above me."Intruder!"**

"That's no good. They'll capture him, and he'll do something stupid, and miraculously get out alive," Jason sighed.

**If I'd wanted to create a distraction, I'd succeeded, but this was not where I wanted to fight. If I got pinned down in the center of the ship, I was crab chow.**

"That's smart."

**The demonic crustacean-**

Leo snickered. "Demonic crustacean. Really, where does he come up with this stuff?"

"Oh, that's nothing. He's had: Demon Math Teachers, Demonic Pigeons, all kinds of stuff. Apparently, the year before he came to camp, he was at a boarding school, and he sold candy out of his dorm, and Annabeth had to force him to read Shakespeare. At dagger-point," Nico said. Leo laughed harder.

**lunged at me. I sliced with Riptide, taking off the tip of its claw. It hissed and foamed, but didn't seem very hurt.**

**I tried to remember anything from the old stories that might help with this thing. Annabeth had told me about a monster crab—something about Hercules crushing it under his foot? That wasn't going to work here. This crab was slightly bigger than my Reeboks.**

**Then a weird thought occurred to me. Last Christmas, my mom and I had brought Paul Blofis to our old cabin at Montauk, where we'd been going forever. Paul had taken me crabbing, and when he'd brought up a net full of the things, he'd shown me how crabs have a chink in their armor, right in the middle of their ugly bellies.**

"Ha! I taught him something that saved his life," Paul smiled.

**The only problem was getting to the ugly belly.**

The smile faded, and Paul got paler.

**I glanced at the fountain, then at the marble floor, already slick from scuttling crab tracks. I held out my hand, concentrating on the water, and the fountain exploded. Water sprayed everywhere, three stories high, dousing the balconies and the elevators and the windows of the shops. The crab didn't care. It loved water. It came at me sideways, snapping and hissing, and I ran straight at it, screaming,**

**"AHHHHHHH!"**

"What kind of battle cry is that?" a jerky mortal that didn't like Percy asked snidely.

"An awesome one. Though not as awesome as 'PEANUT BUTTER!'" Sam defended her friend, and yelled the last part, making everyone but the demigods, Percy's mortal friends, and Paul cover their ears.

**Just before we collided, I hit the ground baseball-style and slid on the wet marble floor straight under the creature. It was like sliding under a seven-ton armored vehicle. All the crab had to do was sit and squash me, but before it realized what was going on, I jabbed Riptide into the chink in its armor, let go of the hilt, and pushed myself out the backside.**

**The monster shuddered and hissed. Its eyes dissolved. Its shell turned bright red as its insides evaporated. The empty shell clattered to the floor in a massive heap.**

**I didn't have time to admire my handiwork. I ran for the nearest stairs while all around me monsters and demigods shouted orders and strapped on their weapons. I was empty-handed. Riptide, being magic, would appear in my pocket sooner or later, but for now it was stuck somewhere under the wreckage of the crab, and I had no time to retrieve it.**

"That's both good and bad. Good that it'll return, but bad that he's weaponless on that ship."

**In the elevator foyer on deck eight, a couple of dracaenae slithered across my path. From the waist up, they were women with green scaly skin, yellow eyes, and forked tongues. From the waist down, they had double snake trunks instead of legs. They held spears and weighted nets, and I knew from experience they could use them.**

**"What isss thisss?" one said."A prize for Kronosss!"**

"Like that would happen," Nico said.

**I wasn't in the mood to play break-the-snake, but in front of me was a stand with a model of the ship, like a YOU ARE HERE display. I ripped the model off the pedestal and hurled it at the first dracaena.**

**The boat smacked her in the face and she went down with the ship. I jumped over her, grabbed her friend's spear, and swung her around. She slammed into the elevator, and I kept running toward the front of the ship.**

**"Get him!" she screamed.**

**Hellhounds bayed. An arrow from somewhere whizzed past my face and impaled itself in the mahogany-paneled wall of the stairwell.**

**I didn't care—as long as I got the monsters away from the engine room and gave Beckendorf more time.**

**As I was running up the stairwell, a kid charged down. He looked like he'd just woken up from a nap.**

**His armor was half on. He drew his sword and yelled, "Kronos!" but he sounded more scared than angry. He couldn't have been more than twelve—about the same age I was when I'd first arrived at Camp Half-Blood.**

**That thought depressed me. This kid was getting brain-washed—trained to hate the gods and lash out because he'd been born half Olympian. Kronos was using him, and yet the kid thought I was his enemy.**

**No way was I going to hurt him. I didn't need a weapon for this. I stepped inside his strike and grabbed his wrist, slamming it against the wall. His sword clattered out of his hand.**

**Then I did something I hadn't planned on. It was probably stupid. It definitely jeopardized our mission, but I couldn't help it.**

**"If you want to live," I told him, "get off this ship now. Tell the other demigods." Then I shoved him down the stairs and sent him tumbling to the next floor.**

**I kept climbing.**

**Bad memories: a hallway ran past the cafeteria. Annabeth, my half brother Tyson, and I had sneaked through here three years ago on my first visit.**

**I burst outside onto the main deck. Off the port bow, the sky was darkening from purple to black. A swimming pool glowed between two glass towers with more balconies and restaurant decks. The whole upper ship seemed eerily deserted.**

**All I had to do was cross to the other side. Then I could take the staircase down to the helipad—our emergency rendezvous point. With any luck, Beckendorf would meet me there. We'd jump into the sea.**

**My water powers would protect us both, and we'd detonate the charges from a quarter mile away.**

**I was halfway across the deck when the sound of a voice made me freeze. "You're late, Percy."**

**Luke stood on the balcony above me, a smile on his scarred face. He wore jeans, a white T-shirt, and flip-flops, like he was just a normal college-age guy, but his eyes told the truth. They were solid gold.**

**"We've been expecting you for days."**

"A spy!"

**At first he sounded normal, like Luke. But then his face twitched.**

**A shudder passed through his body as though he'd just drunk something really nasty. His voice became heavier, ancient, and powerful—the voice of the Titan lord Kronos. The words scraped down my spine like a knife blade. "Come, bow before me."**

**"Yeah, that'll happen," I muttered.**

**Laistrygonian giants filed in on either side of the swimming pool as if they'd been waiting for a cue. Each was eight feet tall with tattooed arms, leather armor, and spiked clubs. Demigod archers appeared on the roof above Luke. Two hellhounds leaped down from the opposite balcony and snarled at me. Within seconds I was surrounded. A trap: there's no way they could've gotten into position so fast unless they'd known I was coming.**

**I looked up at Luke, and anger boiled inside me. I didn't know if Luke's consciousness was even still alive inside that body. Maybe, the way his voice had changed . . . or maybe it was just Kronos adapting to his new form. I told myself it didn't matter. Luke had been twisted and evil long before Kronos possessed him.**

**A voice in my head said: I have to fight him eventually. Why not now?**

**According to that big prophecy, I was supposed to make a choice that saved or destroyed the world when I was sixteen. That was only seven days away. Why not now? If I really had the power, what difference would a week make? I could end this threat right here by taking down Kronos. Hey, I'd fought monsters and gods before.**

"Gods?!"

**As if reading my thoughts, Luke smiled. No, he was Kronos. I had to remember that.**

**"Come forward," he said."If you dare."**

**The crowd of monsters parted. I moved up the stairs, my heart pounding. I was sure somebody would stab me in the back, but they let me pass. I felt my pocket and found my pen waiting. I uncapped it, and Riptide grew into a sword.**

**Kronos's weapon appeared in his hands—a six-foot-long scythe, half Celestial bronze, half mortal steel.**

**Just looking at the thing made my knees turn to Jell-O. But before I could change my mind, I charged.**

**Time slowed down. I mean literally slowed down, because Kronos had that power. I felt like I was moving through syrup. My arms were so heavy, I could barely raise my sword. Kronos smiled, swirling his scythe at normal speed and waiting for me to creep toward my death.**

**I tried to fight his magic. I concentrated on the sea around me—the source of my power. I'd gotten better at channeling it over the years, but now nothing seemed to happen.**

**I took another slow step forward. Giants jeered. Dracaenae hissed with laughter.**

**Hey, ocean, I pleaded. Any day now would be good.**

**Suddenly there was a wrenching pain in my gut.**

"That sounds like a personal problem," Nico said.

**The entire boat lurched sideways, throwing monsters off their feet. Four thousand gallons of salt water surged out of the swimming pool, dousing me and Kronos and everyone on the deck. The water revitalized me, breaking the time spell, and I lunged forward.**

**I struck at Kronos, but I was still too slow. I made the mistake of looking at his face—Luke's face—a guy who was once my friend. As much as I hated him, it was hard to kill him.**

**Kronos had no such hesitation. He sliced downward with his scythe. I leaped back, and the evil blade missed by an inch, cutting a gash in the deck right between my feet.**

**I kicked Kronos in the chest. He stumbled backward, but he was heavier than Luke should've been. It was like kicking a refrigerator.**

"How does he know that?"

**Kronos swung his scythe again. I intercepted with Riptide, but his strike was so powerful, my blade could only deflect it. The edge of the scythe shaved off my shirtsleeve and grazed my arm. It shouldn't have been a serious cut, but the entire side of my body exploded with pain. I remembered what a sea demon had once said about Kronos's scythe: Careful, fool. One touch, and the blade will sever your soul from your body. Now I understood what he meant. I wasn't just losing blood. I could feel my strength, my will, my identity draining away.**

**I stumbled backward, switched my sword to my left hand, and lunged desperately. My blade should've run him through, but it deflected off his stomach like I was hitting solid marble. There was no way he should've survived that.**

**Kronos laughed."A poor performance, Percy Jackson. Luke tells me you were never his match at swordplay."**

**My vision started to blur. I knew I didn't have much time. "Luke had a big head," I said. "But at least it was his head."**

"Ooooh, burn!" Emory said. He had been oddly quiet since they had started reading.

**"A shame to kill you now," Kronos mused, "before the final plan unfolds. I would love to see the terror in your eyes when you realize how I will destroy Olympus."**

**"You'll never get this boat to Manhattan." My arm was throbbing. Black spots danced in my vision.**

"That's not good." Leo said.

"No, duh!" Octavian said.

"Well that's rude."

"That's the point!"

"I-"

"Leo," Piper said sweetly. "Please shut up."

**"And why would that be?" Kronos's golden eyes glittered. His face—Luke's face—seemed like a mask, unnatural and lit from behind by some evil power. "Perhaps you are counting on your friend with the explosives?"**

**He looked down at the pool and called, "Nakamura!"**

**A teenage guy in full Greek armor pushed through the crowd. His left eye was covered with a black patch. I knew him, of course: Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis. I'd saved his life in the Labyrinth last summer, and in return, the little punk had helped Kronos come back to life.**

**"Success, my lord," Ethan called. "We found him just as we were told."**

**He clapped his hands, and two giants lumbered forward, dragging Charles Beckendorf between them.**

**"No!" Leo yelled.**

**My heart almost stopped. Beckendorf had a swollen eye and cuts all over his face and arms. His armor was gone and his shirt was nearly torn off.**

**"No!" I yelled.**

**Beckendorf met my eyes. He glanced at his hand like he was trying to tell me something. His watch.**

**They hadn't taken it yet, and that was the detonator. Was it possible the explosives were armed? Surely the monsters would've dismantled them right away.**

**"The monsters aren't that smart, Perce. The demigods on that ship aren't either if they chose to serve Kronos," Abby sighed.**

**"We found him amidships," one of the giants said, "trying to sneak to the engine room. Can we eat him now?"**

**"Soon."Kronos scowled at Ethan. "Are you sure he didn't set the explosives?"**

**"He was going toward the engine room, my lord."**

**"How do you know that?"**

**"Er . . ." Ethan shifted uncomfortably. "He was heading in that direction. And he told us. His bag is still full of explosives."**

**Slowly, I began to understand. Beckendorf had fooled them. When he'd realized he was going to be captured, he turned to make it look like he was going the other way. He'd convinced them he hadn't made it to the engine room yet. The Greek fire might still be primed! But that didn't do us any good unless we could get off the ship and detonate it.**

**Kronos hesitated.**

**Buy the story, I prayed. The pain in my arm was so bad now I could barely stand.**

**"Open his bag," Kronos ordered.**

**One of the giants ripped the explosives satchel from Beckendorf's shoulders. He peered inside, grunted, and turned it upside down. Panicked monsters surged backward. If the bag really had been full of Greek fire jars, we would've all blown up. But what fell out were a dozen cans of peaches.**

"Idiots! All of them!" Nico shouted.

**I could hear Kronos breathing, trying to control his anger.**

**"Did you, perhaps," he said, "capture this demigod near the galley?"**

**Ethan turned pale. "Um—"**

**"And did you, perhaps, send someone to actually CHECK THE ENGINE ROOM?"**

**Ethan scrambled back in terror, then turned on his heels and ran.**

**I cursed silently. Now we had only minutes before the bombs were disarmed. I caught Beckendorf's eyes again and asked a silent question, hoping he would understand:How long?**

**He cupped his fingers and thumb, making a circle. Zero. There was no delay on the timer at all. If he managed to press the detonator button, the ship would blow at once. We'd never be able to get far enough away before using it. The monsters would kill us first, or disarm the explosives, or both.**

**Kronos turned toward me with a crooked smile. "You'll have to excuse my incompetent help, Percy Jackson. But it doesn't matter. We have you now. We've known you were coming for weeks."**

**He held out his hand and dangled a little silver bracelet with a scythe charm—the Titan lord's symbol.**

**The wound in my arm was sapping my ability to think, but I muttered, "Communication device . . . spy at camp."**

**Kronos chuckled. "You can't count on friends. They will always let you down. Luke learned that lesson the hard way. Now drop your sword and surrender to me, or your friend dies."**

**I swallowed. One of the giants had his hand around Beckendorf's neck. I was in no shape to rescue him, and even if I tried, he would die before I got there. We both would.**

**Beckendorf mouthed one word: Go.**

**I shook my head. I couldn't just leave him.**

**The second giant was still rummaging through the peach cans, which meant Beckendorf's left arm was free. He raised it slowly—toward the watch on his right wrist.**

**I wanted to scream,NO!**

**Then down by the swimming pool, one of the dracaenae hissed, "What isss he doing? What isss that on hisss wrissst?"**

**Beckendorf closed eyes tight and brought his hand up to his watch.**

**I had no choice. I threw my sword like a javelin at Kronos. It bounced harmlessly off his chest, but it did startle him. I pushed through a crowd of monsters and jumped off the side of the ship—toward the water a hundred feet below.**

**I heard rumbling deep in the ship. Monsters yelled at me from above. A spear sailed past my ear. An arrow pierced my thigh, but I barely had time to register the pain. I plunged into the sea and willed the currents to take me far, far away—a hundred yards, two hundred yards.**

**Even from that distance, the explosion shook the world. Heat seared the back of my head. The Princess Andromeda blew up from both sides, a massive fireball of green flame roiling into the dark sky, consuming everything.**

**Beckendorf, I thought.**

**Then I blacked out and sank like an anchor toward the bottom of the sea.**


	3. AN: I Was Reported

**AN: So, this has been reported. I don't understand why people just have to go and report us. We put disclaimers, and say that we don't own the story, and we separate Mr. Rick Riordan's work from ours by bolding it. So why do people _INSIST!_ on reporting us. There is a reason that we write Fan Fictions: It's because we place them at a high honor and want to show it. There are reasons for all of the stories. If this is deleted, I'm not sure if I'll repost it. I might change the name.**


	4. Chapter 3: I Meet Some Fishy Relatives

_**AN: Jason, Nico, and Hazel from the past will be"Past-Jason-Hazel-or-Nico," while their future counterparts will be Jason-Hazel-or-Nico. Same for anyone else I bring from a different time. Please read the bottom note that is in CAPITAL LETTERS. You can ignore the rest if you want, just please read that part.**_

_**Third Person POV (AN: My notes will now be bold and italicized.)**_

No one said anything. The air was tense and no one wanted to brake the silence. Finally, Jason sighed and took the book back from Piper.

"I'll read. Here we go."

"I** MEET SOME FISHY RELATIVES**" Jason read.

**Demigod dreams suck.**

"I sooo agree. Though, Percy's dreams are always very real and highly prophetic. If I know him, it'll probably be something to do with the titans, but I think I know what dream this is, since it was right after Beckendorf's death," Past Nico said.

"He could replace the Oracle with what he sees in his dreams," Nico joked.

"I don't think she would like to be out of a job, though," Past Nico joked back.

"Yeah."

"Can I read yet? Or are you done talking to yourself, Nico?" Jason asked, annoyed that he had barely gotten a sentence in before they started interrupting.

"We're good, keep going."

**The thing is, they're never just dreams. They've got to be visions, omens, and all that other mystical stuff that makes my brain hurt.**

**I dreamed I was in a dark palace at the top of a mountain. Unfortunately, I recognized it: the palace of the Titans on top of Mount Othrys, otherwise known as Mount Tamalpais, in California. The main pavilion was open to the night, ringed with black Greek columns and statues of the Titans. Torchlight glowed against the black marble floor. In the center of the room, an armored giant struggled under the weight of a swirling funnel cloud - Atlas, holding up the sky.**

**Two other giant men stood nearby over a bronze brazier, studying images in the flames.**

**"Quite an explosion," one said. He wore black armor studded with silver dots like a starry night. His face was covered in a war helm with a ram's horn curling on either side.**

"Krios," Past Jason snarled.

"I wish that he was the worst enemy I have. Sadly, he's not. At least I don't have as many enemies as Percy, though," Jason agreed.

"Really, who's the worst?"

"Gaea," Jason snapped.

"Oh." Past Jason said. Jason took a deep breath and kept reading.

**"It doesn't matter," the other said. This Titan was dressed in gold robes, with golden eyes like Kronos. His entire body glowed. He reminded me of Apollo, God of the Sun, except the Titan's light was harsher, and his expression crueler. "The gods have answered the challenge. Soon they will be destroyed."**

**The images in the fire were hard to make out: storms, buildings crumbling, mortals screaming in terror.**

"Typhon," someone muttered from the demigod area. Jason just continued reading.

**"I will go east to marshal our forces," the golden Titan said. "Krios, you shall remain and guard Mount Othrys."**

**The ram horn dude grunted. "I always get the stupid jobs. Lord of the South. Lord of Constellations. Now I get to babysit Atlas while you have all the fun."**

"Going to war is considered fun to him?" a mortal teacher, Mr. Bell, asked.

"Yep!" Leo replied, popping the 'p.' "And for the children of a certain war god. Some other demigods, too."

"Okay. Please continue, Mr. Grace."

Jason complied.

**Under the whirlwind of clouds, Atlas bellowed in agony, "Let me out, curse you! I am your greatest warrior. Take my burden so I may fight!"**

**"Quiet!" the golden Titan roared. "You had your chance, Atlas. You failed. Kronos likes you just where you are. As for you, Krios, do your duty."**

**"And if you need more warriors?" Krios asked. "Our treacherous nephew in the tuxedo will not do you much good in a fight."**

"What 'nephew in a tuxedo?'"

"The book will explain."

**The golden Titan laughed. "Don't worry about him. Besides, the gods can barely handle our first little challenge. They have no idea how many others we have in store. Mark my words, in a few days' time, Olympus will be in ruins, and we will meet here again to celebrate the dawn of the Sixth Age!"**

**The golden Titan erupted into flames and disappeared.**

**"Oh, sure," Krios grumbled. "He gets to erupt into flames. I get to wear these stupid ram's horns."**

"He was such a baby," Past Jason said.

"I wish the giants acted like that, minus Ephialtes _**(AN: I think that's how it's spelled, and a friend of mine borrowed my book, so I can't check.) **_and Otis, of course," Piper said.

"They were pretty amusing," Jason replied.

"Yeah, they were. Now, read Sparky," Piper said. Jason sulked, but complied.

**The scene shifted. Now I was outside the pavilion, hiding in the shadows of a Greek column. A boy stood next to me, eavesdropping on the Titans. He had dark silky hair, pale skin, and dark clothes - my friend Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades.**

"Hey! It's me!" Both Nico's exclaimed at the same time.

"No... It's me!" they, again, said at the same time.

"No, it's-" Piper cut them off.

"It's both of you, now quite acting like little children."

"Yes ma'am."

"Good."

**He looked straight at me, his expression grim. "You see, Percy?" he whispered. "You're running out of time. Do you really think you can beat them without my plan?"**

"What plan?" Paul asked.

"The one we came to ask you and Sally about," Nico replied. Paul paled.

"So, we'll finally hear what happened after you left, and how you two and Mrs. O'Leary made it to our apartment."

"Yep," Nico said, popping the 'p.'

**His words washed over me as cold as the ocean floor, and my dreams went black.**

**"Percy?" a deep voice said.**

**My head felt like it had been microwaved in aluminum foil. I opened my eyes and saw a large shadowy figure looming over me.**

**"Beckendorf?" I asked hopefully.**

**"No, brother."**

**My eyes refocused. I was looking at a Cyclops - a misshapen face, ratty brown hair, one big brown eye full of concern. "Tyson?"**

**My brother broke into a toothy grin. "Yay! Your brain works!"**

"I'm not so sure," someone from the demigod side muttered, but no one commented and Jason continued.

**I wasn't so sure. My body felt weightless and cold. My voice sounded wrong. I could hear Tyson, but it was more like I was hearing vibrations inside my skull, not the regular sounds.**

"That sounds like what happened when we met Aphros and his brother _**(AN: I forgot the other name, when I get the book back, I'll fix this.)** _ and we got the brownie recipe."

"Yeah, but those peaches really completed it," Frank agreed.

"I know. That was a fun day. Minus Shrimpzilla of course. Go ahead Sparky," Leo said cheerfully.

**I sat up, and a gossamer sheet floated away. I was on a bed made of silky woven kelp, in a room paneled with abalone shell. Glowing pearls the size of basketballs floated around the ceiling, providing light. I was under water.**

**Now, being the son of Poseidon and all, I was okay with this. I can breathe underwater just fine, and my clothes don't even get wet unless I want them to. But it was still a bit of a shock when a hammerhead shark drifted through the bedroom window, regarded me, and then swam calmly out the opposite side of the room.**

**"Where - "**

**"Daddy's palace," Tyson said.**

**Under different circumstances, I would've been excited. I'd never visited Poseidon's realm, and I'd been dreaming about it for years. But my head hurt. My shirt was still speckled with burn marks from the explosion. My arm and leg wounds had healed - just being in the ocean can do that for me, given enough time - but I still felt like I'd been trampled by a Laistrygonian soccer team in cleats.**

"Ouch, but how does he know what that would feel like?" Piper asked.

"Who knows? It's Percy!" Nico replied.

"Good point."

**"How long - "**

**"We found you last night," Tyson said, "sinking through the water."**

**"The Princess Andromeda?"**

**"Went ka-boom," Tyson confirmed.**

**"Beckendorf was on board. Did you find . . ."**

**Tyson's face darkened. "No sign of him. I am sorry, brother."**

"Man, I love Tyson. He's so adorable! And he likes Ella!" Piper said in a voice that she recognized as her daughter-of-Aphrodite voice. "Oh, man. I did it again."

"Yeah, you did, Pipes."

"Oh, well, I'll have to resist harder. But it's just so darn hard when I'm around Percabeth. Even I, and I'm as non-daughter-of-Aphrodite as can be, and I can just feel the love radiating from them," Piper sighed.

"Yeah, she was his only memory, you know," Hazel said.

There was a loud squeal that came from the Roman side of the stage, and when you looked, you would see Gwen squealing and jumping up and down. "That's just sooooo CUTE!"

"Wow, are you a daughter of Venus, Gwen?"

"Yep!" she answered, popping the 'p.'

"Their love is almost tangible! When they were reunited, they kissed, she judo flipped him, she threatened him, he laughed, then they got up and acted like nothing happen. I had to resist the urge to squeal right then, because it would ruin the moment, and it would ruin my image as un-Aphrodite-ish."

"When you guys get to our camp, I'm going to have to remember it forever!"

"It's almost as good as the stables incident. Right, Frank? You were the one to find them, right?"

"Oh, um... Yeah, it was awkward. After that, Coach Hedge threatened everyone with a cow bell, and I don't think he was kidding."

"Yeah, Annabeth said they just fell asleep, then Percy said something dumb and ADHD that didn't really didn't help their case."

"Oh! You'll have to tell me all about it!"

"Sure! Next break! Now, read Sparky."

Leo mumbled something about that being his nickname for Jason, but Jason just started reading. _**(AN: I feel like Piper was really OOC right here, but she has to be Aphrodite-y every once in awhile, right?)**_

**I stared out the window into deep blue water. Beckendorf was supposed to go to college in the fall. He had a girlfriend, lots of friends, his whole life ahead of him. He couldn't be gone. Maybe he'd made it off the ship like I had. Maybe he'd jumped over the side . . . and what? He couldn't have survived a hundred-foot fall into the water like I could. He couldn't have put enough distance between himself and the explosion.**

"He's going to blame himself?" Reyna asked.

"Wow, you just started the reading, and already you have him figured out!" Leo said sarcastically.

"I just used common sense. He seems very modest, and like he would blame himself if something happened to someone near him," Reyna retorted.

"Yep," Jason said, popping the 'p.' "He blamed himself when I was knocked out when we were in Kansas. Who knows how many over things he's blamed himself for?" He kept reading, not leaving Reyna time to retort.

**I knew in my gut he was dead. He'd sacrificed himself to take out the Princess Andromeda, and I had abandoned him.**

"See," Jason said, as if to prove his point.

"No one doubted you Sparky. Just read," Leo said.

**I thought about my dream: the Titans discussing the explosion as if it didn't matter, Nico di Angelo warning me that I would never beat Kronos without following his plan - a dangerous idea I'd been avoiding for more than a year.**

**A distant blast shook the room. Green light blazed outside, turning the whole sea as bright as noon.**

**"What was that?" I asked.**

**Tyson looked worried. "Daddy will explain. Come, he is blowing up monsters."**

**The palace might have been the most amazing place I'd ever seen if it hadn't been in the process of getting destroyed. We swam to the end of a long hallway and shot upward on a geyser. As we rose over the rooftops I caught my breath - well, if you can catch your breath underwater.**

"Can you?" Bobby asked.

"I'm not sure, but you can ask Percy _when_ you see him," Nico replied. No one missed how he emphasized the 'when,' but no one commented on it.

After a few minutes of silent staring, Jason continued reading.

**The palace was as big as the city on Mount Olympus, with wide courtyards, gardens, and columned pavilions. The gardens were sculpted with coral colonies and glowing sea plants. Twenty or thirty buildings were made of abalone, white but gleaming with rainbow colors. Fish and octopi darted in and out of the windows. The paths were lined with glowing pearls like Christmas lights.**

"Wow. That sounds amazing," Adriana, a mortal who had been an acquaintance of Percy's, said.

"Eh. I still prefer the Underworld," Both Nico's said simultaneously.

"Figure you would, but I'm more of a fan of Poseidon's Realm," she replied.

"Most people are. But the Under-"

Jason read before anyone could say anything else.

**The main courtyard was filled with warriors - mermen with fish tails from the waist down and human bodies from the waist up, except their skin was blue, which I'd never known before. Some were tending the wounded. Some were sharpening spears and swords. One passed us, swimming in a hurry. His eyes were bright green, like that stuff they put in glo-sticks, and his teeth were shark teeth. They don't show you stuff like that in The Little Mermaid.**

"No kidding. It's a Disney Princess movie. You think they'll put _that_ in there?"

**Outside the main courtyard stood large fortifications - towers, walls, and antisiege weapons - but most of these had been smashed to ruins. Others were blazing with a strange green light that I knew well - Greek fire, which can burn even underwater.**

"That, I did not know."

**Beyond this, the sea floor stretched into gloom. I could see battles raging - flashes of energy, explosions, the glint of armies clashing. A regular human would've found it too dark to see. Heck, a regular human would've been crushed by the pressure and frozen by the cold. Even my heat-sensitive eyes couldn't make out exactly what was going on.**

**At the edge of the palace complex, a temple with a red coral roof exploded, sending fire and debris streaming in slow motion across the farthest gardens. Out of the darkness above, an enormous form appeared - a squid larger than any skyscraper. It was surrounded by a glittering cloud of dust - at least I thought it was dust, until I realized it was a swarm of mermen trying to attack the monster. The squid descended on the palace and swatted its tentacles, smashing a whole column of warriors. Then a brilliant arc of blue light shot from the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings. The light hit the giant squid, and the monster dissolved like food coloring in water.**

**"Daddy," Tyson said, pointing to where the light had come from.**

**"He did that?" I suddenly felt more hopeful. My dad had unbelievable powers. He was the god of the sea. He could deal with this attack, right? Maybe he'd let me help.**

"Probably not. He's big on protecting his kids by not letting them in his fights, but they usually end up in them anyway."

**"Have you been in the fight?" I asked Tyson in awe. "Like bashing heads with your awesome Cyclops strength and stuff?"**

**Tyson pouted, and immediately I knew I'd asked a bad question, "I have been . . . fixing weapons," he mumbled. "Come. Let's go find Daddy."**

"That really isn't fair, but I understand why. Poseidon cares for his children," Past Jason said, slightly jealous.

**I know this might sound weird to people with, like, regular parents, but I'd only seen my dad four or five times in my life, and never for more than a few minutes. The Greek gods don't exactly show up for their kids' basketball games. Still, I thought I would recognize Poseidon on sight.**

**I was wrong.**

**The roof of the temple was a big open deck that had been set up as a command center. A mosaic on the floor showed an exact map of the palace grounds and the surrounding ocean, but the mosaic moved. Colored stone tiles representing different armies and sea monsters shifted around as the forces changed position. Buildings that collapsed in real life also collapsed in the picture.**

"That's so cool! I wish we had something like that at our camp," Dakota, Bobby, and Leo whined at the same time.

The three jokesters looked at each other, and simultaneously jumped up, and ran to a corner of the Goode gym.

"Where are you going?" Both Jason's asked.

"To talk about stuff! Keep reading!" Leo yelled back.

Piper muttered something under her breath, which sounded suspiciously like, "Now we're all gonna die," and Jason kept reading.

**Standing around the mosaic, grimly studying the battle, was a strange assortment of warriors, but none of them looked like my dad. I was searching for a big guy with a good tan and a black beard, wearing Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt.**

"A god actually dresses like that?" a mortal asked in shock.

"Yep. You'd be surprised how some of them dress."

The mortal just nodded and looked at Jason to read.

**There was nobody like that. One guy was a merman with two fish tails instead of one. His skin was green, his armor studded with pearls. His black hair was tied in a ponytail, and he looked young - though it's hard to tell with non-humans. They could be a thousand years old or three. Standing next to him was an old man with a bushy white beard and gray hair. His battle armor seemed to weigh him down. He had green eyes and smile wrinkles around his eyes, but he wasn't smiling now. He was studying the map and leaning on a large metal staff. To his right stood a beautiful woman in green armor with flowing black hair and strange little horns like crab claws. And there was a dolphin - just a regular dolphin, but it was staring at the map intently.**

"Ah, yes. Meeting your godly parent's immortal family. Always awkward. Never fun," Nico said.

Past Nico agreed.

**"Delphin," the old man said. "Send Palaemon and his legion of sharks to the western front. We have to neutralize those leviathans."**

**The dolphin spoke in a chattering voice, but I could understand it in my mind: _Yes, lord_! It sped away.**

**I looked in dismay at Tyson, then back at the old man.**

**It didn't seem possible, but . . . "Dad?" I asked.**

**The old man looked up. I recognized the twinkle in his eyes, but his face . . . he looked like he'd aged forty years.**

**"Hello, Percy."**

**"What - what happened to you?"**

"See, that's how he manages to offend the majority of all immortal beings he meets. He even made Lady Hestia mad once. It wasn't pretty, but it only lasted for an intense stare-down and a glare from her to shut him up," Nico said.

"I'm not sure I even want to know how that one happened. It hasn't happened yet in our time," Past Nico said.

"Well... it all started with Apollo trying to teach him archery..." Nico proceeded to tell the story of what happened with Apollo's Sun Chariot, a lake on Olympus, one of Hephaestus's traps, some of Aphrodite's perfume, and a rubber duck. _**(AN: I'll leave this up to you people's imaginations. I will tell you, though. That I may make a one-shot to put this**** in.)**_

"Oh, Percy... There's a reason we call you Kelp Head," Past Nico sighed.

All of the others were pretty shocked by the story, and it showed on their faces, but only a few that knew Percy, and so knew the story already, weren't amazed by his audacity.

**Tyson nudged me. He was shaking his head so hard I was afraid it would fall off, but Poseidon didn't look offended.**

**"It's all right, Tyson," he said. "Percy, excuse my appearance. The war has been hard on me."**

**"But you're immortal," I said quietly. "You can look . . . any way you want."**

**"I reflect the state of my realm," he said. "And right now that state is quite grim. Percy, I should introduce you - I'm afraid you just missed my lieutenant Delphin, God of the Dolphins. This is my, er, wife, Amphitrite. My dear - "**

"Awkwaaaaaarrrdddd."

**The lady in green armor stared at me coldly, then crossed her arms and said, "Excuse me, my lord. I am needed in the battle."**

**She swam away.**

**I felt pretty awkward, but I guess I couldn't blame her. I'd never thought about it much, but my dad had an immortal wife. All his romances with mortals, including with my mom . . . well, Amphitrite probably didn't like that much.**

"Yeah, the Big Three's wives tend to not like the Big Three kids."

**Poseidon cleared his throat. "Yes, well . . . and this is my son Triton. Er, my other son."**

**"Your son and heir,"**

"*COUGH - ego - COUGH*"

**the green dude-**

"Really, Poseidon just told you his name, and yet you call him 'the green dude?'"

**-corrected. His double fish tails swished back and forth. He smiled at me, but there was no friendliness in his eyes. "Hello, Perseus Jackson. Come to help at last?"**

"Really! It's as if Percy hadn't just had to fight for his life above ground. Now, he's underwater, and he's still willing to help fight, so if anything, you should be saying nothing, because you're not even in the fight yourself!" Nico shouted, and it surprised some people that didn't know how protective of each other the three Greek children of the Big Three were.

**He acted like I was late or lazy. If you can blush underwater, I probably did.**

**"Tell me what to do," I said.**

"See! That's him, willing to do anything to help the people he loves, even die for them. Which he has certainly almost done enough times, but he still keeps going! He's better than all of the heroes from Ancient Greece, I doubt they were that loyal. Even Theseus has something against him! Ariadne, he just dumped her! She married Dionysus and became a goddess, so she is happy now," Past Nico continued his future self's rant. The last part surprised the people that didn't know about Dionysus and Ariadne, which was most everyone.

To fill the awkward silence that followed Nico's rant, Jason continued reading.

**Triton smiled like that was a cute suggestion - like I was a slightly amusing dog that had barked for him or something. He turned to Poseidon. "I will see to the front line, Father. Don't worry. I will not fail."**

**He nodded politely to Tyson. How come I didn't get that much respect? Then he shot off into the water.**

**Poseidon sighed. He raised his staff, and it changed into his regular weapon - a huge three-pointed trident. The tip glowed with blue light, and the water around it boiled with energy.**

**"I'm sorry about that," he told me.**

**A huge sea serpent appeared from above us and spiraled down toward the roof. It was bright orange with a fanged mouth big enough to swallow a gymnasium.**

**Hardly looking up, Poseidon pointed his trident at the beast and zapped it with blue energy. Ka-boom! The monster burst into a million goldfish, which all swam off in terror.**

"Nice, serpent to goldfish. I think it's a great way to hide. Don't you think, Zhang?" a returned Leo asked a blushing Frank.

"Shut up, Valdez, I was stuck, and the water was filling the room, and Coach was talking to Keto!"

"Sure thing. Just try to find something that is bigger. Maybe a shark, or even a _crazy dolphin_."

Suddenly, everyone that was on the _Argo II_ started laughing like crazy and no one else understood what was going on. When things finally calmed down, Jason read again.

**"My family is anxious," Poseidon continued as if nothing had happened. "The battle against Oceanus is going poorly."**

**He pointed to the edge of the mosaic. With the butt of his trident he tapped the image of a merman larger than the rest, with the horns of a bull. He appeared to be riding a chariot pulled by crawfish, and instead of a sword he wielded a live serpent.**

**"Oceanus," I said, trying to remember. "The Titan of the sea?"**

"Hey look, he actually remembered without Annabeth there to tell him! I'm so proud," Leo said sarcastically.

Most rolled their eyes, but Piper leaned over to Leo and smacked his head, then leaned back and told Jason to read as if nothing had just happened, while Leo whined, "That _hurt_ Beauty Queen."

**Poseidon nodded. "He was neutral in the first war of gods and Titans. But Kronos has convinced him to fight. This is . . . well, it's not a good sign. Oceanus would not commit unless he was sure he could pick the winning side."**

**"He looks stupid," I said, trying to sound upbeat. "I mean, who fights with a snake?"**

**"Daddy will tie it in knots," Tyson said firmly.**

"I love his faith. He has such a way with words," a mortal said.

All of the demigods/mortal who had met Tyson smiled because he was so awesome.

**Poseidon smiled, but he looked weary. "I appreciate your faith. We have been at war almost a year now. My powers are taxed. And still he finds new forces to throw at me - sea monsters so ancient I had forgotten about them."**

"That's not good if the gods forgot about them. That means they are so dangerous that they try not to remember, or... they either immediately killed them and forgot about them," a demigod muttered.

**I heard an explosion in the distance. About half a mile away, a mountain of coral disintegrated under the weight of two giant creatures. I could dimly make out their shapes. One was a lobster. The other was a giant humanoid like a Cyclops, but he was surrounded by a flurry of limbs. At first I thought he wearing a bunch of giant octopi. Then I realized they were his own arms - a hundred flailing, fighting arms.**

**"Briares!" I said.**

"He did an amazing job in the Battle of the Labyrinth. That's when I got my first bead. A little maze that represents the quest Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson went on to find Daedalus, even though Daedalus was already in Camp Half-Blood, they just didn't know it," Nico said.

Past Nico seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Jason started to read again after no one commented anything else.

**I was happy to see him, but he looked like he was fighting for his life. He was the last of his kind - a Hundred-Handed One, cousin of the Cyclopes. We'd saved him from Kronos's prison last summer, and I knew he'd come to help Poseidon, but I hadn't heard of him since.**

**"He fights well," Poseidon said. "I wish we had a whole army like him, but he is the only one."**

"All of the others faded," Past Nico muttered.

**I watched as Briares bellowed in rage and picked up the lobster, which thrashed and snapped its pincers. He threw it off the coral mountain, and the lobster disappeared into the darkness. Briares swam after it, his hundred arms spinning like the blades of a motorboat.**

**"Percy, we may not have much time," my dad said. "Tell me of your mission. Did you see Kronos?"**

**I told him everything, though my voice choked up when I explained about Beckendorf. I looked down at the courtyards below and saw hundreds of wounded mermen lying on makeshift cots. I saw rows of coral mounds that must've been hastily made graves. I realized Beckendorf wasn't the first death. He was only one of hundreds, maybe thousands. I'd never felt so angry and helpless.**

**Poseidon stroked his beard. "Percy, Beckendorf chose a heroic death. You bear no blame for that. Kronos's army will be in disarray. Many were destroyed."**

**"But we didn't kill him, did we?"**

**As I said it, I knew it was a naive hope. We might blow up his ship and disintegrate his monsters, but a Titan lord wouldn't be so easy to kill.**

"Really? Because all you have to do is stab Kronos' host in his mortal point and it works," Emory said under his breath. He still hasn't forgiven Luke, but he wasn't really mad, just disappointed. He had started to work for Kronos, but then, un-like Chris Rodriguez, he had got out of the Titan's side within the week when he realized how the Titans really were, and no one had even noticed he was gone. The only one that noticed his absence had been Abby, because everyone else was too busy to notice a single demigod missing, when many more were still going over. He had decided to join because Luke had been his best friend, and he was glad he got out when he did, because if he hadn't, he probably would've ended up like Chris, being one of the solos sent in the Labyrinth.

**"No," Poseidon admitted. "But you've bought our side some time."**

**"There were demigods on that ship,"**

Emory flinched. He would have been one of them if he hadn't left... Abby noticed this and put her arm around him.

**I said, thinking of the kid I'd seen in the stairwell. Somehow I'd allowed myself to concentrate on the monsters and Kronos. I'd convinced myself that destroying their ship was all right because they were evil, they were sailing to attack my city, and besides, they couldn't really be permanently killed. Monsters just vaporized and re-formed eventually. But demigods . . .**

Abby pulled Emory closer to her when he started to shake some. No one but Sam noticed, and she was one of the six people that knew what had happened.

**Poseidon put his hand on my shoulder. "Percy, there were only a few demigod warriors aboard that ship, and they all chose to battle for Kronos. Perhaps some heeded your warning and escaped. If they did not . . . they chose their path."**

**"They were brainwashed!" I said. "Now they're dead and Kronos is still alive. That's supposed to make me feel better?"**

Emory flinched again, but he had stopped shaking, which Abby took as a good sign.

**I glared at the mosaic - little tile explosions destroying tile monsters. It seemed so easy when it was just a picture.**

"It always does," the demigods all sighed. Then they looked at each other weirdly and Jason just kept reading to avoid the tension.

**Tyson put his arm around me. If anybody else had tried that, I would've pushed him away, but Tyson was too big and stubborn. He hugged me whether I wanted it or not. "Not your fault, brother. Kronos does not explode good. Next time we will use a big stick."**

**"Percy," my father said. "Beckendorf's sacrifice wasn't in vain. You have scattered the invasion force. New York will be safe for a time, which frees the other Olympians to deal with the bigger threat."**

**"The bigger threat?" I thought about what the golden Titan had said in my dream: The gods have answered the challenge. Soon they will be destroyed.**

**A shadow passed over my father's face. "You've had enough sorrow for one day. Ask Chiron when you return to camp."**

**"Return to camp? But you're in trouble here. I want to help!"**

**"You can't, Percy. Your job is elsewhere."**

"He really cares for his kids, but he can't keep Percy away from fighting when it's going on both above and below the shore." No one knew who said this, but they looked around, and when they saw no one looked to have said it, they looked at Jason to keep reading, so they all missed the small smile on the person standing in a shadow's face.

**I couldn't believe I was hearing this. I looked at Tyson for backup.**

**My brother chewed his lip. "Daddy . . . Percy can fight with a sword. He is good."**

"Best swordsman in the past three hundred years," the demigods stated proudly.

**"I know that," Poseidon said gently.**

**"Dad, I can help," I said. "I know I can. You're not going to hold out here much longer."**

**A fireball launched into the sky from behind the enemy lines. I thought Poseidon would deflect it or something, but it landed on the outer corner of the yard and exploded, sending mermen tumbling through the water. Poseidon winced as if he'd just been stabbed.**

"He essentially was, if he reflects his realm, it would age him and would seem as if he were injured physically," Sam said.

"How did you know that?" Jason asked.

"Hmm... oh, I got bored once and ended up taking a logic class, so I figured that it would make sense for it to seem as if he were stabbed if something happened to his palace and the city."

"I guess it would make sense for things to go that way, but it would be better that it isn't as bad as some things could be."

"Yep," Sam said and popped the 'p,' which finished the conversation.

**"Return to camp," he insisted. "And tell Chiron it is time."**

**"For what?"**

**"You must hear the prophecy. The entire prophecy."**

**I didn't need to ask him which prophecy. I'd been hearing about the "Great Prophecy" for years, but nobody would ever tell me the whole thing. All I knew was that I was supposed to make a decision that would decide the fate of the world - but no pressure.**

"Yep, no pressure. Just the possibility of death and the world and civilization ending. But no biggie..."

**"What if this is the decision?" I said. "Staying here to light, or leaving? What if I leave and you..."**

**I couldn't say die. Gods weren't supposed to die, but I'd seen it happen. Even if they didn't die, they could be reduced to nearly nothing, exiled, imprisoned in the depths of Tartarus like Kronos had been.**

Nico flinched almost unnoticeably at the word 'Tartarus.' His past self saw and wondered what happened in the future.

**"Percy, you must go," Poseidon insisted. "I don't know what your final decision will be, but your fight lies in the world above. If nothing else, you must warn your friends at camp. Kronos knew your plans. You have a spy. We will hold here. We have no choice."**

**Tyson gripped my hand desperately. "I will miss you, brother!"**

**Watching us, our father seemed to age another ten years. "Tyson, you have work to do as well, my son. They need you in the armory."**

**Tyson pouted some more.**

**"I will go," he sniffled. He hugged me so hard he almost cracked my ribs. "Percy, be careful! Do not let monsters kill you dead!"**

"So it's acceptable to let them kill him alive?" Dakota asked.

"Tyson just has a way with words," Jason replied.

"He certainly does," Bobby said.

**I tried to nod confidently, but it was too much for the big guy. He sobbed and swam away toward the armory, where his cousins were fixing spears and swords.**

**"You should let him fight," I told my father. "He hates being stuck in the armory. Can't you tell?"**

**Poseidon shook his head. "It is bad enough I must send you into danger. Tyson is too young. I must protect him."**

**"You should trust him," I said. "Not try to protect him."**

"Angering every god he comes in contact with," Nico sang, and many laughed recalling the story from before.

**Poseidon's eyes flared. I thought I'd gone too far, but then he looked down at the mosaic and his shoulders sagged. On the tiles, the mermaid guy in the crawfish chariot was coming closer to the palace.**

**"Oceanus approaches," my father said. "I must meet him in battle."**

**I'd never been scared for a god before, but I didn't see how my dad could face this Titan and win.**

"Way to have faith in your dad, Percy," Past Hazel said. "Is he normally this pessimistic?"

"Yes!" anyone that knew him said.

"Wow... That's depressing thoughts if he acts that way all of the time."

"Not always... Like when a war is over, or a battle, and it's like the calm before a storm, and he's relaxed at camp, maybe with Annabeth. Then he tries to be optimistic."

"Well, that's good. At least we won't have to read all depressing stuff."

"Just mostly depressing..." Nico trailed off.

**"I will hold," Poseidon promised. "I will not give up my domain. Just tell me, Percy, do you still have the birthday gift I gave you last summer?"**

**I nodded and pulled out my camp necklace. It had a bead for every summer I'd been at Camp Half-Blood, but since last year I'd also kept a sand dollar on the cord. My father had given it to me for my fifteenth birthday. He'd told me I would know when to "spend it," but so far I hadn't figured out what he meant. All I knew was that it didn't fit the vending machines in the school cafeteria.**

"I hope he didn't actually try that..." Nico said and looked at Sam, Abby, and Emory.

"He did. We were there and asked what was going on. It was pretty weird, but we were the only ones in the area, so he didn't make a fool out of himself," Abby replied.

**"The time is coming," he promised. "With luck, I will see you for your birthday next week, and we will have a proper celebration."**

**He smiled, and for a moment I saw the old light in his eyes.**

**Then the entire sea grew dark in front of us, like an inky storm was rolling in. Thunder crackled, which should've been impossible underwater. A huge icy presence was approaching. I sensed a wave of fear roll through the armies below us.**

**"I must assume my true godly form," Poseidon said. "Go - and good luck, my son."**

**I wanted to encourage him, to hug him or something, but knew better than to stick around. When a god assumes his true form, the power is so great that any mortal looking on him will disintegrate.**

"Yep, but they don't necessarily disintegrate. It's really hard to get them back, though," Piper said, while looking at Jason.

Jason smiled sheepishly and did a little nervous laugh, and then he started reading to avoid questions.

**"Good-bye, Father," I managed.**

**Then I turned away. I willed the ocean currents to aid me. Water swirled around me, and I shot toward the surface at speeds that would've caused any normal human to pop like a balloon.**

**When I looked back, all I could see were flashes of green and blue as my father fought the Titan, and the sea itself was torn apart by the two armies.**

"Well, that was depressing. I hope the next chapter isn't, but anyways, who wants to read next?" Jason said.

"I will," Abby said.

"Okay, here you go," Jason passed the book to her and she opened to the next chapter.

"**I GET A SNEAK PEEK AT MY DEATH**," she read.

_**.o0O0o.**_

_**AN: Hey guys, sorry it took so long, I'm going to try to have the next chapter up either this weekend or next weekend.**_

_**I've had a great time at school since my last update: my Chorus concert was a huge success, we had the elective presentation and we got to choose those, and since my school is now going to have a high school, the rising eighth graders (me included) get to take some advanced classes for high school credit. I'm going to do Advanced English and Rhetoric, Advanced Contemporary American History, and Algebra I. So I'm excited about the high school that they've finally gotten a chance to start building, as I've been to that same school since Kindergarten.**_

_**NOW FOR ANY HARRY POTTER FANS, I'M WRITING TWO DIFFERENT TIME TRAVEL STORIES. I NEED HELP DECIDING WHICH TO PUBLISH FIRST. I'LL PUT THE SUMMARIES IN THE NEXT CHAPTER.**_


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